Memoirs and morsels from home and abroad

confession

I went to a high school with an honor code. Our teachers would leave the room during exams, trusting that since we had signed the honor code, there would be “no lying, stealing, cheating, or plagiarism.” We sometimes even chatted with one another during exams, knowing that whatever topics we discussed would not be related to the test we were taking.

So, I come to you today, my head hung low, to confess that I sometimes — no I often — cheat in the kitchen. I use pre-minced garlic. I use margarine a lot (for parve desserts). My biggest shortcut though is that I sometimes use lemon juice instead of fresh lemons. Even when a recipe has this citrus component as its main ingredient. A little squirt in a stir-fry when a lemon is not to be found– not such a big deal. But, I have done it for lemon bars. Yes, lemon bars. Where the main flavoring is lemon.

And, here I present to you my latest and greatest cheat – a bastardization of a beautiful recipe for lemon mascarpone blondies with a few modifications, including the use of bottled lemon juice in lieu of freshly squeezed lemons and their zest. But, I have to tell you, this must be one kick-ass recipe because despite my cheating, it rocked.

This lemon mascarpone “tart” tastes like a lemon bar whose lemony top and cookie bottom merge into one. It is rich and decadent without being overly sweet. That being said, it was not overly citrusy either — perhaps the downside to cheating with jarred lemon juice. I imagine one could play up the tart part of it a bit more by making a chocolate crust of sorts, even using a thin layer of brownie base if you like the combination of lemon, made rich with mascarpone, and chocolate.

Cheating Lemon Mascarpone Tart

I found this wonderful recipe for Lemon Mascarpone Blondies developed by Garret McCord and posted on Simply Recipes. Rather than using lemons, I was going to use limes because I had brought back some key limes from my recent trip to Miami, but having made some “caiparina mojitos” with them at a picnic last week, I didn’t think I could bear to juice the 2 dozen I would probably need to get 2 T of juice. But I did have some Goya lemon juice in my fridge. I didn’t have an 8X8 pan to bake the blondies in, but my 10-inch solid bottom tart pan worked nicely and made the blondies look fancy though a bit flat.

I made the batter by hand because my Kitchen Aid is parve, and this is very easy to make the “old-fashioned way.” It took less than 15 minutes to make the batter. This could be a great holiday recipe for those who are observant during the upcoming Rosh Hashanah.

Melt butter in saucepan or microwave. As someone who often substitutes margarine, I have to tell you that the smell of the melting butter was absolutely heavenly. I might be converted to a more frequent butter user.

Pour melted butter into large mixing bowl and mix in sugar with whisk. Then add egg and vanilla and continue to whisk. Add mascarpone, juice (and zest if using) and switch to a spatula for mixing. Finally add in baking powder, baking soda, salt, and flour, continuing to use spatula for final mixing.

When all ingredients are incorporated, the batter will be pretty pourable. Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly.

Bake in pre-heated oven for 20-30 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean and without clinging crumbs, and the blondies start to pull away from the edge of the pan. In my oven, this took a full 30 minutes even though my tart was a bit thinner than an 8X8 square would be.

I suggest chilling before serving. It makes the tart easier to slice, less crumbly, and more dense.

(I tried to candy a few thin lime slices to decorate the top, but unfortunately they didn’t taste very good (thought they looked pretty). This wasn’t worth the effort and I wouldn’t do it next time.)

Firstly, I can’t believe your school teachers trusted you all so much! I can’t imagine them holding us all to our word like that at my school.. then again, my year would never have been so honourable, haha. I tend to save my cheating for the kitchen though, like you, so I definitely enjoyed this post. I have about a hundred lemons in the fruit bowl at the moment (…my mum keeps buying them. Don’t ask) so I might give this a go and let you know if it beats jarred juice!

Every cook MUST make these types of innocent replacements sometimes. Pouring from a bottle rather than slicing up a lemon can save a few minutes, that for some people, means a lot. I definitely do the garlic and lemon juice short cuts sometimes too! No shame there.

Ooh yeah, I cheat all the time! 🙂 If you’ve made a tart crust with margarine, can you please point me to a recipe? I’m trying to work on a non-dairy French apple tart and would love to test out a non-dairy tart crust!

Thank you everyone, for confiding some of your own particular shortcuts and “cheats.” As someone who has taken that honor code to heart, I felt compelled to turn myself in, as we were obliged…
– Erin – Now I want to know your dirty little vices
– Indigo – yes, there was quite a bit of trust going on in our uniform-wearing private school. I wish my mom continued to buy me groceries. I love lemons (when I have them). Thanks for visiting from the UK. Let me know how this tastes with the real deal – it’s crazy easy.
– Erika – thanks for making me feel better!
– Sarah – I guess the key is knowing when to cheat judiciously, though this one was definitely a risk. I’m sure it comes out more intense with real lemons. I was lucky to happen upon the plate in a little store here called “Boutique Fabulous” — the name of the store alone makes me want to keep coming back. I have similarly patterned but mismatched bowls.
– Irene – your secret is safe with me. As for a margarine tart crust, I know I’ve made one before, but I’ll need to look around for it. I’ll send it to you when I find it.

Looks Delicious, and your writing is….like lemon and mascaspone blended with a hint of cheat – the writing here is as fabulous as the image…A little cheat does alot of wonders when done properly! – A++